While I was walking here, comes up one of my Comrades, and one who I always took for my particular Friend: I know what you are employ’d in,said he, while you seem only to be musing, and refreshing yourself with the cool Breeze. Why,said I, what am I musing about? Why,said he, you are studying how you should get away from us; but, muse upon it as long as you will,says he, you shall never go without me, for I am resolv’dto go with you which Way soever you take. ’Tis true,says I, I was musing which Way I should go, but not which Way I should go without you; for tho’ I would be willing to part Company, yet you cannot think I would go alone; and you know I have chosen you out from all the Company to be the Partner of all my Adventures.
Very well,says he, but I am to tell you now, that it is not only necessary that we should not go all together; but, our Men have all concluded, that we should make our Escape every one for himself, and should separate as we could; so that you need make no Secret of your Design any more than of the Way you intend to take.
I was glad enough of this News, and it made me very easy in the Preparations we made for our setting out: And, the first Thing we did, was, to get us more Cloaths, having some made of one Fashion, some of another; but, my Friend and I, who resolv’d to keep together, made us Cloaths after the Fashion of theArmenianMerchants, whose Country we pretended to travel through.
In the mean Time, five of our Men dress’d like Merchants; and, laying out their Money in Raw Silk, and Wrought Silks, and other Goods of the Country, proper forEurope, (in which they were directed by anEnglishMerchant there) resolv’d to take the usual Rout, and travel by the Caravans fromBabylontoAlleppo, and so toScanderoon, and we staid and saw them and their Bales go off in Boats for a great Town on theEuphrates, where the Caravans begin to take up the Passengers; the other six divided themselves, one Half of them went forAgra, the Country of the GreatMogul, resolving to go down the RiverHooglytoBengal; but whither they went afterward or what Course they took, I never knew, neither whether they really went at all or not.
The other three went by Sea, in aPersianVessel, back from the Red Sea to the Gulf ofMocca, and I heard of them all three atMarseilles; but whither they went afterwards I never knew, nor could I come to speak with them even there.
As for me and my Friend, we first laid out all the Silver we had inEuropeanWare, such as we knew would vend atIspahan, which we carry’d upon twelve Camels; and hiring some Servants, as well for our Guide as our Guard, we set out.
The Servants we hir’d were a Kind ofArab, but rather looking like the Great Mogul’s people, than realArabians; and when we came intoPersia, we found they were look’d upon as no better than Dogs, and were not only used ill, but that we were used ill for their Sakes; and after we were come three Days into thePersianDominions, we found ourselves oblig’d to part with them; so we gave them three Dollars a Man to go back again.
They understood their Business very well, and knew well enough what was the Reason of it, though we did not. However, we found we had committed a great Mistake in it; for we perceiv’d that they were so exasperated at being turn’d off, that they vowed to be revenged; and, indeed, they had their Revenge to the Full; for the same Day, at Night, they return’d in the Dark, and set eleven Houses on Fire in the Town where we quartered; which, by the Way, had gone near to have cost me my Life, and would certainly have done so, if in the Hurry I had not seiz’d one of the Incendiaries and deliver’d him up to them.
The People were so provok’d at him that was taken that they fell upon him with all possible Fury as the common Incendiary and Burner of the Town, and presently quitted us (for they had before vowed our Destruction) but, as I said, quitted us immediately, and thronged about the Wretch they had taken; and, indeed, I made no Question but that they would have immediately murder’d him (nay, that they would have torn him in Pieces before they parted with him). But after they had vented their Rage at him for some Time with all possible Reproaches and Indignities, they carry’d him before theCadi, or Judge of the Place. TheCadi, a wise, grave Man, answered, no, he would not judge him at that Time, for they were too hot and passionate to do Justice; but they should come with him in the Morning, when they were cool, and he would hear them.
It is true this was a most excellent Step of theCadias to the right Way of doing Justice; but it did not prove the most expedient in the present Occasion, though that was none of his Fault neither; for in the Night the Fellow got out of their Hands, by what Means or by whose Assistance I never heard to this Day; and theCadifined the Town in a considerable Sum for letting a Man accused of a capital Crime make his Escape before he was adjudged, and, as we call it, discharged according to Law.
This was an eminent Instance of the Justice of these People; and though they were doubly enraged at the Escape of the Fellow, who, withoutDoubt, was guilty, yet they never open’d their Mouths against theCadi; but acquiesc’d in his Judgment, as in that of an Oracle, and submitted to the national Censure, or Censure according to the Custom of their Nation, which he had pass’d upon them in their publick Capacity for the Escape of the Man.
We were willing to get out of this Place as soon as we could; for we found the Peoples Rage, which wanted an Object to vent itself upon, began to threaten us again: So having pack’d up our Goods, and gotten five ordinary Camel-Drivers for our Servants in the Country, we set out again.
The Roads inPersiaare not so much frequented, as to be well accommodated with Inns, so that several Times we were oblig’d to lodge upon the Ground in the Way; but our new Servants took Care to furnish us with Lodging; for as soon as we let them know we wanted Rest, and inclin’d to stop, they set up a Tent for us, in so short a Time, that we were scarce able to imagine it possible, and under this we encamp’d, our Camels being just by us, and our Servants and Bales lying all hard by.
Once or twice we lodg’d in publick Inns, built at the King ofPersia’s Charge: These are fair large Buildings, built square, like a large Inn, they have all of them large Stables, and good Forrage for the Camels and Horses, and Apartments for perhaps two or three hundred People, and they are call’dCaravansera’s, as being built to entertain whole Caravans of Travellers: On the greatRoads toTaurisand the Side ofTurkythey are all fortify’d, and are able to entertain five or six Thousand People, and have a Stock to furnish what Number of Men can come with Provisions; nay, it has been known, that whole armies of thePersianshave on their March been furnish’d with Provisions in one of theseCaravansera’s, and that they have kill’d 2000 Sheep for them in one Night’s Time.
In this Manner we travell’d toIspahan, the Capital ofPersia, where appearing as Merchants, and with several Camels loaden with Merchandize, we pass’d all Possibility of Suspicion, and being perfectly easy, we continu’d here some Time, sold our Cargoes, and would gladly have remitted the Money to other Places, as forConstantinoplein particular; but we found theTurksandPersianshave no such Thing as an Exchange, by Bills running between them and other Nations, no, nor between one Town and another.
We were invited here by a sudden Accident to have gone Home by theCaspianSea andAstracan, so thro’Muscovy; but I had heard so much of the Barbarity of theRussians, the dangerous Navigation of theCaspianSea by Reason of the Calms and Shoals, the Hazard of being robb’d by theTartarson the RiverWolga, and the like, that I chose to travel toConstantinople, a Journey through Desarts, over Mountains and Wastes, among so many Sorts of Barbarians, that I would run any Kind of Hazards by Sea, before I would attempt such a Thing again.
It would deserve another History to let you into all the different Circumstances of this Journey; how well I was us’d by some, and how ill by others; nay, how well by someMahometans, how ill by some Christians: But it shall suffice to tell you, that I am at present atConstantinople; and, tho’ I write this here, I do not purpose to send it to you till I come toMarseillesinFrance; from whence I intend to go and live in some inland Town, where, as they have, perhaps, no Notion of the Sea, so they will not be inquisitive after us.
I am,&c.
FINIS.
Illustration 093
Transcriber's NotesThe text was left as close to the original as possible, including obsolete and inconsistent spelling. The transcriber made only a very few changes to the text to correct obvious errors:Enterpize — changed toEnterprizeyouself — changed toyourself
Transcriber's Notes
The text was left as close to the original as possible, including obsolete and inconsistent spelling. The transcriber made only a very few changes to the text to correct obvious errors: